Can we still talk about « oriental religions »
while setting them apart from « the other religions »
in the Greek and Roman world? The concept of oriental religions was
made canonical by Franz Cumont more than a century ago. Today, it
is unanimously questioned, and with solid arguments. But it remains
important to understand the context in which the concept arose and
functioned. Only then can we return to the ancient religious
landscape of Antiquity and study it with more adequate tools. The
conference, of which this volume provides the acts, sets out to
take stock of the study of oriental religions and to explore them
in a new perspective, to study the historiographical heritage and
to review the current debate. This volume shows how, at the turn of
the twentieth century, a specialised field of knowledge arose with
contributions from various disciplines such as ancient history, the
history of religions, history of christianity and theology. It also
points to new pathways in the research, based upon recently
discovered material and inspired by new perspectives and new
questions. Finally, this volume sheds new and, we hope, decisive
light on the way ancient cults were inscribed in space and time,
and on the strategies of integration and demarcation, the
complexity of which appears far clearer to us now than it did a
century ago, when the epoch-making book by Franz Cumont
« The oriental religions in Roman paganism »
was first published and started its influence on generations of
scholars.